The 1863 is the second rarest pre-Type Three double eagle from the Philadelphia mint, trailing only the 1862. It is not only rare, it is popular, due to its Civil War status. It is seen most often in EF45 to AU53 grades and properly graded AU55 to AU58 examples are rare. In Uncirculated, the 1863 double eagle and none has sold at auction since the spring of 2012.

This very choice slider has a great natural appearance with very few marks, very light wear and pleasing medium green-gold color with some reddish accents at the left obverse rim. It is very likely that this coin was never in circulation as it lacks the heavy abrasions typical to the issue. The eye appeal is well above average and the only negative worth mentioning is a small mint-made semi-circular grease stain in the right obverse field.

Heritage 1/14: 5530, graded AU58 by PCGS but not approved by CAC, just brought $30,550. In my opinion, this coin, while pleasing, was not as choice as the present example.

This date rarely appears for sale and a CAC approved AU58 with truly good eye appeal–as on this coin–may not be offered again in many years!

CAC has approved six in this grade with three finer.